The Ariel Castro kidnappings took place between 2002 and 2004, when Ariel Castro kidnapped Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus and held them captive in his home in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The three girls were imprisoned until May 6, 2013, when Berry escaped with her six-year-old daughter, to whom she had given birth while imprisoned, and contacted police. Police rescued Knight and DeJesus, and arrested Castro within hours.

On May 8, 2013, Castro was charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He pleaded guilty to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder as part of a plea bargain. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole. On September 3, 2013, one month into his sentence, Castro died by suicide, hanging himself with bed sheets in his prison cell.